I would like to hold an educational workshop for the publishers and editors of specialized glossy magazines that are purportedly aimed at older women and men, older being a term loosely used to describe anyone of 60 plus years.
If I had my chance to meet with those magazines’ editors and publishers, designers, advertisers and story tellers, I would point out to them that not all occupants of the older age group are as svelte and put together as the magazine photographs would have us believe.
A magazine that makes its way to our house every other month or so recently caught my attention. I rarely open the pages of this publication because what I have previously seen is geared to seniors living in large urban centres, where we are led to believe the population is much more savvy and certainly superior to those of us here in the hinterland of the Prairies.
But with more time spent indoors with nothing much going on to hold my attention, I saved the magazine from an immediate trip to the recycling bucket. As I leafed from page to page, I got to thinking about my Mother and Grandmother and how neither of them fit the mold of this magazine’s belief that skinny and gaunt would be the norm for women of that age.
And neither of them would have ever shown off their cleavage. There would have been a safety pin placed strategically to stop any potential overflow between pieces of the fabric. One elderly lady of my acquaintance was known for the red rose corsage she used to hold the fabric together. Couple that with the rain hat she often wore indoors, and the publishers would be running for the hills.
One has to grudgingly respect the intent of this magazine, that being to showcase older folks enjoying their lives, living like they’ve never lived before, taking chances normally associated with men and women several generations younger. A wonderful concept if all of us were treated equally.
Being vertically challenged and horizontally fulfilled, I know I would never qualify for inclusion in this or other related magazines. And that’s fine with me, but I wonder how others of my age and measurements feel about being ignored? There are hundreds of stories that could be told by the men and women who don’t seem to measure up.
Let’s browse: the advertisement for hair loss features a lady with gobs of long, thick hair. There is no photo of her showing how she looked as her hair was falling out. The skinny woman in the anti-shingles advertisement could just as easily have been a woman with chubby cheeks and neck tags. There’s definitely no support hose or compression stockings on the long-legged model showing off expensive shoes and wearing a dress missing cloth on top and bottom. Even the older man sitting in the stair lift is trim.
I looked closely from page to page but not one close-up of the bodies perfect had even a glimmer of an age spot or rust spots as some youngsters like to call them. Skin is clear, tight and glowing, nails are manicured and polished and teeth are white and don’t appear to be dentures.
The only person I could find with some well-developed hips was in tight jeans and promoting the sale of discreet adult underwear — suggesting to me that skinny bodies don’t require the same protection.
Maybe the next issue will go up a size or two to show off what we regular folks are doing with our aging and well-developed but imperfect lives — rust spots and all.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
